US Says North Korea Has Learned How To Fit A Nuke On A Missile

A new report by the Pentagon’s intelligence arm has
concluded, with “moderate confidence,” that North Korea (DPRK)
has learned how to make a "low reliability" nuclear weapon small
enough to be delivered by a ballistic missile,
Eli Lake of the Daily Beast reports.

D.I.A. assesses with moderate confidence the North
currently has nuclear weapons capable of delivery by ballistic
missiles; however the reliability will be low.

The
New York Times
reports that the reliability may refer to the difficulty
of developing accurate missiles or "the huge technical challenges
of designing a warhead that can survive the rigors of flight and
detonate on a specific target."

North Korea currently has multiple medium-range Musudan ballistic
missiles set up on it's east coast and on Wednesday South Korea’s
foreign minister
warned that DPRK could launch its “any time from
now.”

The
untested Musudan has a potential range of 1,550 miles to
2,500 miles, meaning it could reach Japan, South Korea, and
almost as far as U.S. island territory of Guam.

Lake notes that the executive summary was read aloud on
Thursday by Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.) during a House Armed
Services Committee hearing.

The Times notes that the DIA — which primarily monitors the
missile capabilities of adversary nations — was among
the agencies that insisted Saddam Hussein had nuclear weapons in
the run-up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

On Wednesday Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told
a Congressional hearing that DPRK leader Kim Jong-un's endgame
appears to be "to somehow elicit recognition from ... the United
States [that] North Korea ... [is] a nuclear power, and that that
entitles him to negotiation and to accommodation, and presumably
for aid.”